Padres News: Expert Lists Juan Soto as Ideal Trade Target for Multiple Clubhouses

Could one of the best players in MLB be on the move again?

We now sit here in early June.

Gone are the festivities of Opening Day and the teams to be considered buyers and sellers are beginning to take shape.

One of the more curious cases in baseball are the San Diego Padres.

They have the core to contend, with Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., and Juan Soto on the roster to go along with a strong pitching staff.

However, inconsistent performance and injury problems have come to define their early season, and the 2023 version of this team looks like a shell of the one advanced to the NLCS in 2022.

As of Monday afternoon, San Diego sits five games below .500, in fourth place in the NL West, and seven and a half games behind the Dodgers for tops in the division.

Seven and a half games back in June isn't an insurmountable deficit, but it begs the question.

If the Padres remain in this position as the August 1 trade deadline approaches, could San Diego potentially deal Juan Soto?

The still young 24-year-old outfielder is under team control through 2024 and there would be no shortage of teams interested in getting his services.

That does come with the rather large caveat though that the Padres traded a significant portion of their farm system to acquire him just last season.

Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller shared his thoughts on what could happen with Soto with the trade deadline just under two months away.

Frankly, another Soto blockbuster is feeling more likely than an Ohtani blockbuster, given San Diego's poor record, the sheer amount of long-term money the Padres have already committed elsewhere, the financial uncertainty stemming from the ongoing mess with TV rights payments and the fact that the Yankees could really use a left fielder. However, the Padres will/should be reluctant to so quickly part with the young phenom they gave up so much of their farm system to acquire. (via Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report)

I tend to agree with Miller on this one.

It's true that the Padres could get quite the haul if they included Soto in a deal, but after making such a monumental investment, given that they traded a total of six players to get him, it would be an incredible panic move if they were to let him leave so early in his tenure.